Contrasting results seemed to be the order of the day last Sunday at Macksville as the quarter and semi finals of the MNC District Triples championship were played out in perfect conditions.
The morning saw eight teams line up hoping to advance to the semi finals. Laurie Morris and team were quick out of the blocks against Danny Knight, Athol Grogan and John Bradley. Morris and his team mates Brett Sinnott and Phil Toy never surrendered their early lead and recorded a 29-9 win.
Their opponents in the semi final would be the Sawtell combination of Peter Clarke, Ian Weldon and P.T Clarke, after they proved too good for club mates Neil Davidson, Graham Green and Paul Bartholomew, taking the honours 24-12.
The two other matches proved to be a bit tighter with the all Park Beach affair between reigning champs John Bain, Mark Menzies and Cory Daley against Doug Lambert, Chris Adams and Rex Holloway seeing the scores locked with three ends remaining. Experience saw the titleholders nail down the last three ends to sneak through 22-17. Bellingen showed nerves of steel with the side Mark Reimer, Steve Alford and Chris "Happy" Habgood holding on to a slender lead against Josh Forbes, Terry Kadwell and Rod Farmer to win 20-18.
The semi's continued the contrasting results, with this time the two sides involved in the close results in the morning having anything but in the afternoon. Dropping nine shots in the first two ends of the match put Habgood's side behind the eight ball right from the start against Daley and co. The team wasn't able to recover with the Park Beach side shutting the gates early to advance 25-11. Morris and team seemed to be in control as the ground out a narrow lead against Clarke, however the Sawtell side proved the stronger over the final ends to lead by one playing the last and holding two shots with just the one bowl remaining. Morris however wasn't yet finished and drew to within an inch of the jack to secure a draw and an extra end. In the championship end however it was Ian Weldon who played a perfectly weighted trail shot to bury the jack in the ditch allowing the Park Beach skipper just eighteen inches to draw a match winner. Morris went close but not close enough, Sawtell advancing to the final.
It will be hard to choose a favourite in the final. The Sawtell side will be flying high after their intense semi final victory, but they will have to contend with a side hoping to defend their crown, and a man going for his third district title of the year, being Johnny Bain. The match is scheduled for 9am this Saturday at Macksville and should be a cracker!
Best of luck to the participants.
Chippy
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